alice

Chapter 3
A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale
They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the
bank—the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their
fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and
uncomfortable.
The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they
had a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it
seemed quite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly
with them, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she
had quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned
sulky, and would only say, “I’m older than you, and must know
better.” And this Alice would not allow, without knowing how
old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its age,
there was no more to be said.
At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of authority
among them, called out, “Sit down, all of you, and listen to me!
I’ll soon make you dry enough!” They all sat down at once, in a
large ring, with the Mouse in the middle. Alice kept her eyes
anxiously fixed on it, for she felt sure she would catch a bad
cold if she did not get dry very soon.
“Ahem!” said the Mouse with an important air. “Are you all
ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you
please! ‘William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by
the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted
leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation
and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and
Northumbria——’”
“Ugh!” said the Lory, with a shiver.
“I beg your pardon!” said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely.
“Did you speak?”
“Not I!” said the Lory, hastily.
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